Feel Good Friday - California Community Foundation

Another week and fires are still burning around Los Angeles so again we’re going to highlight an organization providing support to the impacted communities. Today, it’s the California Community Foundation.

Established in 1915 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the mission of the California Community Foundation (CCF) is “to lead positive systemic change that strengthens Los Angeles’ communities.” They do this through fundraising and awarding grants to organizations that provide “long-term, comprehensive solutions that address the vital issues concerning quality of life in Los Angeles County.”

Let’s start with the wildfires. This falls under CCF’s focus area on community resilience and empowering communities to adapt and thrive in the face of climate change. In response to the current wildfires, CCF created a Wildfire Recovery Fund. As of January 17th, they have raised over $30 million from a cross-section of donors, including major corporations, foundations, and more than 27,000 individual donors. Over $15 million in grants has already been awarded to nearly 130 nonprofit organizations and future donations will help people in the region recover and rebuild.

Other areas of focus for CCF include housing and homelessness, education, health, immigration, arts and culture, and civic engagement. Examples of what the funding provides includes: low-interest loans and grants to create and preserve affordable housing, making art accessible for all, healthcare and health education for economically disadvantaged residents in greater South Los Angeles, creating more equity and inclusion so immigrants and their families can thrive, and education initiatives for students from underserved communities.

In the last fiscal year, CCF gave out more than 9,837 in grants, which totaled just over $440 million. Since 2004, they have given more than $3.9 billion in grants, which has impacted hundreds of thousands of lives across Los Angeles County.

If you’d like to help the California Community Foundation respond to the wildfires or otherwise help strengthen Los Angeles communities, you can. Make a donation and spread the word on social media. Like the CCF Facebook page and follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Feel Good Friday - The Unusual Suspects Theater Company

I often perform improv on Friday nights, which makes me feel good, so for today's Feel Good Friday, I'd like to introduce you to The Unusual Suspects Theater Company in Los Angeles, California.

Their mission, found on their website, is "to empower youth in underserved and at-risk environments with the means and methods necessary to explore personal and social conflicts and develop self-esteem, communication and coping skills to make positive life choices and become productive members of the community."

Since 1993, The Unusual Suspects has worked with children between the ages of 9 and 21 who are in foster care, the juvenile justice system, gangs and/or low income communities providing a variety of theater programs. The main focus is on two consecutive 10-week workshops. The first is a playwriting workshop, which results in a staged reading by professional actors. The second is a performance workshop that readies the youth to perform the play they wrote in the previous workshop.

A review of the impact page explains that some of the changes experienced by the 300 kids who go through the program each year include improved self-esteem, communication and teamwork skills and decreased physical confrontation, drug use and gang involvement.

If you want to learn more, you can watch a segment about the program on NBC Los Angeles or a handful of other videos they have on the home page. You can support their work by donating cash or, if you live in the LA area, becoming a volunteer mentor. As always, for the latest and greatest, like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @UStheatreCo